Wednesday, January 29, 2014

After four weeks in Marrakech it was time to move on - but before heading across the seas next week to my next destination - I decided to visit Casablanca for a brief stay ...

Casa is on the Atlantic Coast - a very fast 3 hour train journey gets me there - and then after a brief taxi ride I'm settled into my apartment ...

..." all abord the Marrakech Express" ...

With only six days here and quite a bit to explore, I'm up early on day one and set off on a 5km walk to visit the famed Hassan II Mosque ...which is open to the public for guided tours at certain hours each day of the week ...

The Grande Mosquée Hassan II is the largest mosque in
the country and the 7th largest in the world, covering a land area of 22 acres.
Its minaret is the world's tallest at 210 metres – it is 60 stories high topped
by a laser, the light from which is directed towards Mecca.

The mosque is surrounded on 3 sides with a huge marble-paved plaza ...

the mosque stands on a man-made promontory looking west out to the Atlantic Ocean

Construction work started on July 12, 1986, and was completed seven-years later in 1993. The mosque rises above the Atlantic Ocean - built partially on land and partially over the ocean. This siting was accomplished by creating a platform linking a natural rock outcrop reclaimed from the sea. Two large breakwaters were also built, to protect the mosque from the erosive action of the ocean waves, which can be up to 10 metres (33 ft) in height.

collanades of marble leads the faithful to the doors of the mosque

During the most intense period of construction, 1400 men worked during the day and another 1100 during the night. 10,000 artists and craftsmen participated in building and beautifying the mosque.

The massive external doors - titanium coated to prevent rusting from the corrosive salt air - and weighing in at 10 tons - are electrically operated.

The building dimensions are 200 metres (660 ft) in length and 100 metres (330 ft) in width. All of the granite, marble, plaster, wood and other materials used in the construction, were extracted from around Morocco, with the exception of some Italian white granite columns and 56 glass chandeliers from Venice.

The historical context of the mosque began with the
death of King Mohammed V in 1961. King Hassan II had requested for the best of
the country's artisans to come forward and submit plans for a mausoleum to
honour the departed king. “I wish Casablanca to be endowed with a large, fine
building of which it can be proud until the end of time ... I want to build
this mosque on the water, because God's throne is on the water. Therefore, the
faithful who go there to pray, to praise the creator on firm soil, can
contemplate God's sky and ocean.”

Six thousand traditional Moroccan artisans worked for five years to create the abundant and beautiful mosaics, stone and marble floors and columns, sculpted plaster moldings, and carved and painted wood ceilings.

The construction costs, estimated to be about 585 million
Euro ( about Aust$900 million ), were an issue of debate in Morocco, a poor
country. While Hassan wished to build a mosque which would be second in size
only to the mosque at Mecca, the government lacked funds for such a grand
project. Much of the financing was by public subscription. Every Moroccan
family was forced to pay a set amount, enforced by the police, to finance
construction.Another issue was the
displacement of slum dwellers who lived in the vicinity of the mosque. Twelve
million people donated to the cause, with a receipt and certificate given to every
donor.

The prayer hall is on the ground floor. The central hall is centrally heated through the marbled floor, the decorations in the hall are elaborate and exquisite - made possible by involving 6000 master artisans of Morocco working on it. It is so large that it can easily accommodate the house of the Notre Dame of Paris or St Peter’s of Rome..

A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather together for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque's outside grounds.

56 Chandaleurs from Venice ...

The roof is retractable, illuminating the hall with daytime sunlight and allowing worshippers to pray under the stars on clear nights. It weighs 1100 tons and can be opened in five minutes.

In keeping with Islamic custom - women are not allowed to worhip with the men on the ground floor - so they have their area on the mezzanine floor - screend off by lattice so the men below will not be distracted during prayers ... the women also have their own entrance off to the side of the Mosque ...

mezzanine floor for women worhippers ...

The ablution room and a vast public hammam are in the
basement, with its own entrance - this area is used by the men for the ritual ablutions before prayers A plastering technique which adds egg yolks
and black soap into mixed plaster, was used in the hammam baths to prevent
mould growing in the area.

forty six fountains gushing fresh water for the men to wash

the hammam baths

after all that - it's back out into the refreshing sunlight of the plaza ...

Restoration works ...

Structural deterioration in the concrete wall was observed ten years after the mosque's completion. This was explained as being due to exposure to the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean, into which nearly half of the mosque’s foundation projects. Salt water migrating into the porous concrete caused the rusting of the rebar steel reinforcements resulting in expansion of the steel and causing cracking of concrete. Salt water had penetrated beyond the steel bar also into the structures.

Effective restoration works were instituted in April 2005. The work was done at a cost of 50 million Euros ( approx Aust $75 million ) - that's bringing the total bill close to Aust $1,000 million !!!!

A very sobering thought as I headed home through the slums of this city feeling guilty that I could not possibly donate to each of the the dozens of beggars asking for alms as I walk past ...

After four weeks of breathing the dust of Marrakech,

it sure is nice to have salt air blowing off the Atlantic filtering into my lungs ...

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Well I can't believe that my four weeks at Marrakech has expired already - and tomorrow morning it's the start of a brand new adventure for this wanderer ...My visit here to Marrakech has been an exciting and eye-opening experience - looking into a culture of extreme contrasts ...

On the one side of the city Moroccans live and work in very crowded dusty noisy chaotic conditions, where many struggle to find the means to sustain themselves ... living in ancient narrow laneways ...

While on the other side of the city can be found sweeping boulevardes lined with modern apartment buildings cafes banks and businesses ...

... from never-ending greened-up broard avenues ...

... to dusty cluttered roads ...

... from glitzy 21st century shopping plazas ...

featuring all the chain eateries ...

and expensive fashion houses ...

... to the cluttered souks ...

... with shop after shop after shop selling locally made souvenirs to the tourists ...

... from hidden palaces behind high walls ...

... to hastily erected suburbs ...

Marrakech is a city with a past going back centuries when Gand Vizers and Sultans built magnificent palaces for their coutiers and concubines ...

... and it's a city where youths are now starting to express themselves ...

Marrakech is a city of walls ...

both grand - and the not so grand ...

It's a city of many gates ...

and a city of doors hiding mysteries behind ...

... And bringing warmth to the heart of this Aussie travellers, the ocassional Eucalypt ...

... and most Aussies will recognise this horror -

found even here on the other side of the planet ...

Marrakech is a city of beautiful manicured desert palms ...

And even man-made palms towering into the sky ...

... like this disguised phone and radio tower ...

... what a great idea ...

It is a city of beautiful parks ...

of topiaried orange trees ...

... and many a cool oasis for the locals wander through ...

and even cooler inner-coutyards for weary tourists to wonder at ...

and those same tourists can ride in two-horse-powered coaches

or in two-tiered coaches ...

it's a city of grand mosques - and the daily calls to prayer for the faithful ...

And just when your sinuses are getting used to the dust,

it rains for three days clearing the crisp winter atmosphere

and revealing the snow-covered Atlas Mountains way to the East ...

So that's my impressions of Marrakech - and tomorrow morning with my kit packed I walk out the compound gates headed for another adventure ...